Villanova Wildcats (5-3, 17-4) at Providence Friars (6-3, 14-7)

Wednesday, Feb. 4—8:00 PM EST

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Preview

Villanova (5-3, 17-4) is coming off of a huge week—after upsetting Pitt on Wednesday by ten, they hosted Cincinnati and beat them by 21. The win over the Panthers marked their first win over a Top 25 team this season, and their three Big East losses have all come from current top ten teams (Marquette, Louisville, and Connecticut).

Providence (6-3, 14-7) has a week full of mixed emotions—after taking down Syracuse in an incredibly high-scoring affair, the Friars were blown out by 33 in Hartford. Against UConn, Providence had the wrong gameplan—they kept trying to go straight at Thabeet the way the Hoyas did, and it backfired completely.

The Friars have been a very pleasant surprise this season—they are sitting well above where many expected them to be at the beginning of the season. They still have to face some very tough Big East opponents before the season is over, but Coach Davis has to be happy with their level of play so far.

By the Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Villanova	17-4	5-3	9-7	12	24	73.9	61.3
Providence	14-7	6-3	7-8-1	63	42	79.7	74.4

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Villanova	45.3	38.5	35.6	31.3	74.5	40.5	7.7	14.6	12.8
Providence	45.6	44.7	32.3	33.1	66.5	42.1	7.8	15.8	14.0

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Prediction

Current Line: Villanova -2.0

Villanova ATS: 9-7, 7-5 when favored.
Providence ATS: 7-8-1, 2-3 when underdog.

Providence has been strong so far this season, but Villanova's been on a roll recently and I don't see the Friars being the bump in the road that derails them. So far, the Wildcats have lost by six to UConn, seven to Marquette, and one to Louisville.

Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds are going to be too much for the Friars to handle—not to mention any of the role players who have been stepping up on any given night.

Providence may have taken down Syracuse, but the UConn beatdown is going to weigh too heavy on their hearts.

Ryan's Pick: Villanova -2.0

*This article is also featured on CBBPlace.com*

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

Providence Friars (14-6) at Connecticut Huskies (19-1)

Saturday, Jan. 31—4:00 PM EST

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Preview

The Providence Friars (6-2, 14-6) are towards the top of the Big East after gaining six wins in its first eight games, most recently defeating Syracuse at home. In the two losses, they fell by seven points to Georgetown and nine points to Marquette.

The Huskies (8-1, 19-1) have been on fire since they suffered their only loss of the season in the Big East opener. They most recently defeated DePaul by 22, and have looked strong against almost everyone they've faced. If they can walk away victorious against the Friars, the Huskies will most likely be the top-ranked team in the nation (since Duke lost this past week to Wake Forest), unless Wake leapfrogs them.

Connecticut has four players averaging double-digit points and two of them (Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet) are averaging double-doubles. The Friars rely on seven players, although their starting lineup is probably the most dominant. They are lead by Weyinmi Efejuku with 13.4 PPG.

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Providence	14-6	6-2	7-7-1	61	54	80.7	73.5
Connecticut	19-1	8-1	8-7	7	37	78.4	61.9

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Providence	46.4	44.6	32.5	33.0	67.6	41.4	8.0	15.7	14.2
Connecticut	49.0	38.3	37.5	31.8	68.5	43.2	6.3	15.8	12.2

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Prediction

Current Line: Connecticut -14.0

Providence ATS: 7-7-1, 2-2 when underdog
Connecticut ATS: 8-7, 6-7 when favored

The Huskies should win this game, but the Friars are going to give them more trouble than they expect. They will most likely be distracted by the potential of the top national ranking, so I expect the Friars to keep it close.

Pick: Providence +14.0

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CBBPlace.com*

Syracuse Orange @ Providence Friars
Wednesday, Jan. 28—7:00 PM EST

Preview

The Orange (No. 15 AP, No. 15 Coaches, 5-3, 17-4) are on a definite slide. After playing nearly flawless basketball during its non-conference schedule, Syracuse began Big East play against the lower-caliber teams.

This, unfortunately, did not prepare them for what the Big East really had to offer, and they have gone 1-3 against ranked Big East opponents in the last four games. Syracuse players get a break from ranked Big East play for one game Wednesday as they travel to Providence to take on the Friars (5-2, 13-6).

Providence's two conference losses have come at the hands of the only two ranked Big East opponents they have faced, Georgetown and Marquette. Most recently, they played Seton Hall and won in overtime in a game that we predicted correctly.

This game against the Orange kicks off three games in a row against ranked opponents, the other two being Connecticut and Villanova.

Providence has three players averaging double-digit points (Weyinmi Efejuku, Marshon Brooks, and Jonathan Kale) and one more that can be very dangerous inside (Jeff Xavier). Junior guard Sharaud Curry is still trying to get back into the swing of things this season after playing only eight minutes last season because of a broken foot.

Syracuse has an arsenal of scoring machines with five players averaging double-digit points per game—Jonny Flynn (G, 15.9 PPG, 5.9 APG), Eric Devendof (G, 14.2 PPG), Paul Harris (F, 13.3 PPG, 8.4 RPG), Arinze Onuaku (12.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG), and Andy Rautins (G, 10.5 PPG, 3.2 APG).

They played a very tough, close game against Louisville, but in the end the Orange fell short by ten points after a 13-2 run by the Cardinals to end the game.

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Syracuse	17-4	5-3	8-9	17	23	79.3	68.8
Providence	13-6	5-2	6-7-1	65	67	79.6	72.4

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Syracuse	49.8	40.0	34.4	28.7	62.9	43.5	7.6	17.4	15.3
Providence	46.0	44.2	32.1	32.0	67.9	41.8	7.8	15.3	14.3

Prediction

Current Line: Pick

Syracuse ATS: 8-9, 5-7 when favored
Providence ATS: 6-7-1, 2-2 when underdog

Providence has exceeded expectations this season, but they still are going to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East. Despite recent shortfalls, Syracuse is a very deep team that has potential to finish toward the top of the Big East.

The Orange are too deep for the Friars to overcome.

Pick: Syracuse

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*

St. Ben’s Still Undefeated; Friars Offer Taylor

Providence assistant Pat Skerry was at NYU this past weekend for the SNY Invitational and came away sufficiently impressed with Brooklyn Boys & Girls sophomore guard Mike Taylor.

Providence then became the latest school to offer the 6-foot-3 Taylor a scholarship. He also holds offers from Rutgers and St. John’s, and Pitt is interested.

Taylor hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer Saturday night to give Boys & Girls a 58-55 victory over Brooklyn rival Thomas Jefferson in the consolation game of the SNY Invitational.

“Mike Taylor can really shoot the ball,” said recruiting expert Tom Konchalski. “He’s a terrific 3-point shooter.”

Here is SNY’s video of Taylor’s game-winning 3-pointer:

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB

Mike Taylor’s Scout Profile

Mike Taylor’s ESPN Profile

December, 2008: A superb scoring, combo guard that has the always attacking mentality that big time New York guards have. He can score in a variety of ways.

Michael is a great 3 point shooter that has a extremely quick release and has great elevation on his jumper that allows him to get a shot off even with a hand in his face. He shoots it off the dribble or coming off screens. He is a shooter that you can run sets for.

Michael is a pressure defender that is tough and plays very hard. He gets into you all 84” and has active hands on the defensive end.

In the break, Taylor will shoot the three with range or blow by his defender and hit a pull up or finish high at the rim. He is a tough shot taker but he makes them.

He is able to hit some of the most difficult shots in the game on a regular basis. Taylor scored over 20 in two of his three games at the Beach Ball Classic with his best performance being a 21 point, 6 rebound, 6 assist, 3 steal effort in a win over JL Mann (SC). He was one of the better guards in the event.

Scouts Grade: 92

Weekly Watch: A surprise (Oregon State) and a staple (Blake Griffin)

Beating up on the bottom

Providence: The Friars are off to a 5-2 start in the Big East. That’s great news for PC fans. But a word of caution: None of the five wins has come against a likely NCAA tourney team. Now will come the test. Providence will play eight of its final 11 games against projected NCAA tournament teams. The Friars can’t just beat the three remaining non-NCAA tournament teams in the Big East and expect to earn a bid.

Well, we are going to hear a lot of this until Wednesday.  No doubt he is right that we haven’t beat any NCAA tourney teams.  However, two of those wins came on the road—something that should not be overlook.  This Senior class has won TWO road games each season during the previous three years.  When you look at what happened to ND on the road versus St. John’s, and Georgetown at Seton Hall, those five wins have to mean a little more than just beating up on the bottom.

Ahoy.  The Providence Friars (12-6, 4-2) head to lovely Newark, NJ to face the Seton Hall Pirates (9-8, 0-5) tonight at 7PM.  Remember when Seton Hall had a few big victories early in the season, and it looked like they were going to be a surprise team?  Oh, it seemed like it was just yesterday.  After a few big injuries and a brutal start to their BIG EAST schedule, the Pirates are still looking for their first BIG EAST win.

The Friars season came unraveled after losing to the Hall last year at THE DUNK, but this is a different Providence team with Sharaud Curry at the point, and an emerging Marshon Brooks.  If PC continues to play as well as they have been over the last several games, they should be able to pull out a nice road win — It would be their second road win of the season, matching their output for each of the last three seasons.

INFO

Gametime: 7PM at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ

TV: ESPNU

StatSheet.com Pregame

PREDICTIONS AND GAMBLING

Spread: Providence -1.5 [Providence StatTweets]

Ken Pomeroy: Predicts SHU win, 81-80 [53% chance]

SUBPLOT ALERT!

Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez recruited and coached Jeff Xavier for two years while he was the head coach at Manhattan.

“Jeff is tough as nails. No question. I’m sure he can’t wait to play against me but I don’t want any piece of him.” — Bobby Gonzalez

(Photo CNN)

LETS LOOK AT SOME NUMBERS

Seton Hall comes in playing at a slightly slower pace than the Friars

Let’s take a look at the Four Factors

When Seton Hall has the ball

Seton Hall has been one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the nation (30%).  Their leading scorer, sophomore Jeremey Hazell, is really their only threat behind the arc (51-148, 34.5%).  He takes almost half of their total threes.  If the Friars can lock him down on the perimeter, it will be up to the interior defense to stop Hazell, Eugene Harvey, and Robert Mitchell — the only Hall players who average over 10 points a game.

When Providence has the ball

Seton Hall has been great at getting steals this season, averaging 9.1 a game (1st in the BE, and 20th in the nation).  However, their forced TO% isn’t that great even with the large amount of steals.  If Sharaud Curry can take care of the ball for Providence, the Hall could be in trouble on defense.

Stats by StatSheet.com

AROUND THE WEB

Friars.com Gamenotes [pdf]

The Friars will return to action on Thursday, January 22 versus Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It will mark the 85th meeting ever between the two teams. Providence has posted a 44-40 mark all-time against Seton Hall. The two teams first met on February 26, 1927 when the Pirates defeated the Friars, 25-24, at South Orange, N.J. The Friars are 17-25 in road games against Seton Hall, 24-11 in home games and 3-4 in games on neutral courts. Last season, Seton Hall defeated the Friars, 88-75, on January 24, 2008 at
Providence.

SHUPirates.com Preview

Seton Hall has finally ended a five-game stretch to begin the BIG EAST season that featured games against four AP Top-20 teams, three of which were on the road.  Most recently, the Pirates are coming off a 76-61 loss to #4 Connecticut on Sunday in Hartford.  Sophomore Jeremy Hazell remains the second-leading scorer in the conference.

Projo.com Capsule Preview

The Pirates return home tonight and are in desperate need of a victory after losing five games in a row and seven of eight overall. Each of the five Big East losses have come against a team that’s spent time ranked this season. SHU owns a 6-3 home record.

Projo.com - “PC’s Xavier’s toughness not lost on Seton Hall’s coach”

Gonzales was the first coach to recognize Xavier’s skills and first to shake his head at the recklessness that the Pawtucket native plays with. Gonzalez successfully recruited Xavier out of St. Raphael in 2004 while he was coaching Manhattan College. For two years, Gonzalez watched Xavier hurl his body across the floor, play tight defense and bomb away from outside. Xavier averaged 12.3 points in his two seasons with the Jaspers but one game stands out from the rest.

CFBPlace.com - “Ryan Picks”

The Friars (4-2, 12-6) are trying to secure their status as a
bubble team (and not declare themselves NIT bound already), and they are off to the right start. While they have not defeated any of the top Big East, they have taken down DePaul, St. John’s, and Cincinnati twice (originally a bubble team that is now almost definitely on their way to the NIT).

UPDATE: Listen to Kevin McNamara’s audio preview

Preview

The Friars (4-2, 12-6) are trying to secure their status as a bubble team (and not declare themselves NIT bound already), and they are off to the right start. While they have not defeated any of the top Big East, they have taken down DePaul, St. John's, and Cincinnati twice (originally a bubble team that is now almost definitely on their way to the NIT).

The Pirates (0-5, 9-8) started the season out on a high note—they upset a ranked USC team and shocked the nation. But since then, it's almost been all downhill. They are yet to win a conference game and have lost to the likes of IUPUI and James Madison. In fact, in their last eight games they are 1-7.

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Providence	12-6	4-2	5-7-1	84	70	78.6	71.2
Seton Hall	9-8	0-5	6-4	124	63	76.1	73.8

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG
Providence	45.7	44.0	31.0	30.7	67.3	41.8	8.0	15.5
Seton Hall	43.8	43.7	30.0	32.5	74.3	38.5	9.1	12.1

Providence has looked much stronger than Seton Hall, and it shows in the numbers. They are more accurate from the floor, grab more boards, and get more assists. The two defenses are comparable, and Seton Hall gets the nod from the charity stripe.

Prediction

Current Line: Providence -1.5

Providence ATS: 5-7-1, 3-5-1 when favored
Seton Hall ATS: 6-4, 4-2 when underdog

This is one of the closest spreads for both teams this season. Unfortunately for the Pirates, I do not see this game coming down to the wire and being decided by one point (or resulting in the first Pirate conference win of the season). The Friars have looked strong in conference play, even in their losses.

Pick: Providence -1.5

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*

Things weren't supposed to be this tough, were they?

The Friars overcame an atrocious first half and rallied after halftime to beat the Jackson State Tigers, 85-71, at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. Wednesday.

The Friars stumbled out of the gate, as sloppy ball handling and physical play had them out of their comfort zone.

In what can be described as a frustrating first half, the Friars allowed the Tigers to shoot at 62.5 percent from the field, while turning the ball over several times on offense. There were tons of intercepted passes, missed layups, and missed three-pointers, which were supposed to be the Friars' bread and butter this season.

The Tigers took an 11-1 run to end the first half, taking a 43-32 lead going into the locker room. This stunned the frustrated Friar fans, who booed the team lustily going into the locker room.

First half struggles have plagued the Friars all season long, as they have had a hard time matching other team's intensity, especially when the Friars have the ball. Guys would be open for a split second, only to have a Jackson State defender all over him by the time the ball came. 

Open shots were hard to come by during the first 20 minutes, and coach Keno Davis had to make several adjustments headed into the second half.

Luckily, the Friars turned up the intensity in the second half, driving the ball to the hoop, drawing fouls, and playing stingier defense.

Senior Weyinmi Efejuku, who was non-existent in the first half, had 16 of his 18 points in the second.  Six Friars ended up in double figures, helping the Friars outscore Jackson State 53-28 in the second half.

This Friar team is crisp when it wants to be. It's frustrating to watch a team seemingly lack effort, hustle, or heart, especially to weak non-conference teams. Clearly the offense has struggled, but Coach Davis believes that this team can turn it around. 

"I think the timing of our offense still needs a little work, but that is certainly not because of effort," Davis said. "Our guys are coming in everyday and working hard to improve."

This improvement has to manifest itself for a full 40 minutes in order for the Friars to be competitive in the tough Big East Conference. This team is talented, and they have players who can get it done at any given night. 

It is clear that they lack consistency. Maybe it's because of the long break after the URI game, maybe not. Either way, this team has to step it up over the next few weeks and pad their schedule before the Big East comes knocking.

Keno Davis got his first taste of the Providence College-URI rivalry on Saturday in front of a packed house at the newly renovated Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, as his Friars ground out a slim one-point victory over their rivals from South County.

Everyone in Rhode Island remembered the Friars' embarrassing loss to the Rams last year at the Ryan Center, and Keno Davis did not want to lose his first game against Baron's Boys. 

Senior Geoff McDermott hit two clutch free throws with 17 seconds left to put the Friars up by one. Knowing that they had to play stout defense, the Friars were able to stop the Rams from scoring, and as the clock hit 0:00, they were able to escape with a narrow 66-65 victory, sending the crowd of nearly 13,000 into a frenzy. 

URI fans, while loud and obnoxious, (PC Sucks chant? Super Creative!) were sent back to the boondocks, tails between their legs after the Friars shut down their golden boy Jimmy Baron in the second half, holding him to just two points.

Both teams started the game on fire, combining to shoot 45 percent from the field in the first half alone, with either team leading by no more than three points in that time span.

The stars in the first half was Jimmy Baron for URI, who had 16 points in the first, and Weyinmi Efejuku for the Friars, who chipped in 15 of his game high 21 points. After twenty minutes of intense action, the Rams led 39-38 as the horn sounded.

The second half featured a few small runs by the Rams, who kept distancing themselves, only to find the scrappy Friars clawing back into the game. The streaky Efejuku was on his game and drained a huge three to tie the game at 61 with 2:28 left.

The Friars were down 65-64 with 17 seconds left when Geoff McDermott hit two monster free throws to put the Friars up one. McDermott had missed two free throws earlier in the game, and the senior from New Rochelle said after the game that he was very nervous. It didn't show here, however.

After hitting the two shots, the Friars stopped the Rams and secured bragging rights for the next year at least. 

To say that this game was a momentum boost is surely an understatement. After dropping three games early on in their non-conference schedule, the Friars needed to beat the Rams to bolster their tournament resume, provided they can get lucky and steal a few games from BIG EAST opponents.

The Friars are off for almost two weeks, as the players complete their final exams for the fall semester. They resume play versus Jackson State and will look to catch fire before starting BIG EAST play. 

It was only one point, but this win could turn things around for the Friars, at least for the time being.

The Friars (2-1) are playing their third game in five days when they face off against Maine (3-0) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the DUNK.

QUICK FACTS

Enrollment: 9,085

Conference: America East

Coach: Ted Woodward (5th season)

Record Last Season: 7-23 (3-13, T8th)

Away Record: 4-10

OFFICIAL SITE

OVERVIEW

It may seem troubling that a team that went 7-23 is returning most of its players from last year. However, while they had the youngest average team in the America East Conference, Maine was decimated with injuries all year long. Toward the end of the season, they practically had no point guard, causing the team to finish with the worst turnover margin in the conference.

The Black Bears only lost one starter from last year, Brian Andre (10.8 points per game, good for third on the team last year), and appear healthy for the 2008-09 season.

However, Maine was picked to finish eighth of out nine teams in the America East preseason coaches’ poll. Boston University was picked to finish first.

EARLY PREVIEW

Maine has gotten off to a surprising 3-0 start this season after beating Northern Illinois, Kennesaw State, and most recently Princeton in OT. They have been shooting pretty well from the field (49%, 54.5% eFG%), but have had trouble in the turnover department (except for the Princeton game). They have also had some trouble on the glass, losing the battle of ORB% in each game.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Mark Scooby, Junior Guard

Scooby was the top scorer and rebounder on last year’s team.  More importantly, he was one of the few players who did not get injured and played all 30 games.

Last year 211 of his 314 field goal attempts were from behind the arc, and he converted on 38.9 percent of them. He has gotten off to a slow start so far this season, hitting only 27.8 percent from downtown. The Friars always seem to have trouble defending the three, so Scooby will probably look to bust out

Due to all the injuries last year, Scooby played a lot of minutes, which kept increasing as the season wore on. We’ll see if that has any impact on his season this year.

Stats by StatSheet.com

OUTLOOK

Despite Maine’s 3-0 start on the road this season, the Friars should still give them a really tough matchup. Maine hasn’t played in a game that is going to be even close to the pace the Friars are going to throw them into.

If they continue to falter on the offensive glass and turn over the ball at a 25 percent to 30 percent rate, they may just follow in Sacred Heart’s footsteps and get run out of the DUNK.